Travel Yunnan province

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This was our first trip with a travel agency and Helen and I along with my fellow colegue Jennifer traveled to the Yunnan province. The tour group was by bus and although we spent a great deal of time on the bus we made it to many locations. In all we visited to 5 locations in the 6 day trip. We got in late on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning we left Kunming for Dali of Lijiang and went to a look out point called Erhai. Then we continued to Yulong mountain on Thursday. This short mountain chain had snow capped mountains and we watched a musical demonstration of the local people the Naxi. The native people had a unique social structure in which the women we the only traditional workers in the family, collecting grain and farming through the day while the men of society stayed at home and do arts and crafts while tending the children. On Friday we went to a local silver mining town and then Chuxiong night market and dinner. Finally on Friday we went to Stone Forrest with a labyrinth of stone rock formations both above and below ground. Helen and I decided not to follow the tour group but instead ventured off on our own through the maze of rock. We concluded our tour trip with a great dinner at a playhouse restaurant back in Kunming. Although the tour left little chance to explore on our own Helen told us that that was typical with Chinese tour services. Chinese believe that if a tour company does not have the whole day mapped out for you they are not doing there job. Still near the end of the trip we tried our best to explore on our own. This trip was a very special one as Helen and I celebrated our one year anniversary! I gave her a diamond necklace which she loves. As for the remaining two weeks of my vacation I may travel to Chendu next weekend to see the giant pandas of the region. I do still need to plan for the coming semester though so we shall see.

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